The Publication that Saved Hundreds

What goes around comes around when it comes to saving lives.

Arutz Sheva Staff, 01/02/15 22:05

Father and child (illustration)

Israel news photo: Flash 90

The Efrat organization’s activities are enabled through donation received from within Israel and abroad; from people with generous hearts and wise minds, who understand that saving lives is a principle of supreme value.

In a series of articlesabout the “Efrat”organization,Arutz Sheva presents a number of personal stories and anecdotes relating the group's life-saving activities. This week’s article centers on Eran and his wife, Israeli nationals living in the United States. Six years ago, while the couple still resided in Israel with two young children, they found out that their family would soon be expanding.

“I was unemployed and could barely afford to put food on the table. When I found out my wife was expecting for the third time, it was clear to me that she would have to terminate the pregnancy,” Eran recounted. “I saw the pain in her eyes, but she accepted my claim that it was not the time to bring another child into our family.”

The couple turned to the Committee for the Termination of Pregnancies and were immediately approved for the procedure. They scheduled an appointment for the abortion. Yet, on the morning of the procedure, just as they were getting ready to leave the house, the couple was interrupted by a loud knock at the door. A woman stood at the door, a young child in her arms.

“She was an Efrat organization representative,” Eran said. “I felt rushed to leave, but I could tell that my wife was wavering at the door. I knew she did not feel complete with terminating the pregnancy, and I did not want to pressure her beyond what we had already discussed.” Eran decided to allow the woman two minutes to tell her story.

The woman recounted how she had been in exactly the same situation; perhaps her's was even worse than Eran and his wife’s, as she was not in a relationship at the time.

“While this woman spoke, I looked at her son and could not stop thinking about how this pregnancy, as it was so easy for us to call it, was essentially a child! Our child! I immediately thought about the two kids we were already raising. Could I give up either one of them?” At that moment, Eran took the abortion approval in his hands, and ripped it down the middle.

The couple received aid from the Efrat organization, and the pregnancy was happily continued.

Eran said he couldn’t help but feel that, throughout the pregnancy, his wife was "thanking him without words."

In hindsight, Eran says he understands that he could have caused his wife emotional damage that he himself would not have been strong enough to deal with.

Eran and his wife welcomed another son into their family and the circumcision was held at the Efrat offices. One of the honored rabbis, who served as the Sandak (man honored with holding the baby during the ceremony), blessed the new baby’s father with a bountiful livelihood. A few months later, Eran received an job offer in the United States.

“Any business deal I made… I always kept in mind to put some money on the side to give back to Efrat, because I believe that my son brought us luck.”

After raising a sum of 25,000 dollars, Eran called the Efrat offices and asked to speak with CEO Dr. Schossheim.

“I thanked him for his donation,” Dr. Schossheim recounted, “and of course I apologized for not remembering all of the details of his personal story, because, thankfully, hundreds of children are saved every month; thousands every year.”

Eran declared that if he had known about Efrat, he would never have considered abortion for his family. He thus requested to dedicate his donation towards the organization’s advertisement budget; to give Efrat the means to launch a national campaign, so that there should not be a situation in which people are ignorant of the help the organization gives to women in financial difficulty who are considering having abortions.

The campaign was launched under the slogan, “You don’t stop life because of money!” there is no doubt that Eran’s donation was wisely allocated and invested. Thanks to this campaign, awareness regarding the “Efrat” organization has grown, and has reached many more people than ever before.